Donald Trump signed an order on Thursday imposing steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, after days of guessing games and internal White
House battles over whether daring China to enter a trade war is sound policy.

The president appeared in the Oval Office, flanked by senior officials on one side and a group of steelworkers on the other.

'You are truly the backbone of America, you know that? You are very special people,' he told the blue collar contingent.

'We want a lot of steel coming into our country, but we want it to be fair and we want our workers to be protected.'

Billionaire investor and longtime Trump confidant Carl Icahn dumped $31.3 million of stock in a company heavily dependent on steel last week,
just days before Trump announced plans to impose steep tariffs on steel imports.

I think this is a smart move. Trump has slowly been doing what he promised - improving trade agreements so that the US does not get the short stick,
and strengthening US industry and employment.

Each one of these moves gives the US additional leverage for making deals with other countries. These deals can be made country by country, instead of
getting us stuck into some pact that was negotiated by others who do not have our best interests as their priority.

US Steel will in demand again, after decades of decimation from imports.

Eighty four years ago on this day President Hoover signed the now-infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, which substantially raised U.S. tariffs on some
890 products. Other countries retaliated and world trade shrank enormously; by the end of 1934 world trade had plummeted some 66 percent from the 1929
level.

The Tariff Act of 1930 (aka the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act), started out as a bill that would only raise tariffs on some agricultural products, but a
host of other special interests piled on and before the legislation finally reached President Hoover’s desk it represented one of the largest tariff
increases in U.S. history.

The stock market crash that had begun in the last week of October 1929, some eight months before Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariff. The Dow had
plummeted from 326 on October 22 to 230 in the next six trading days and it finally settled at a low of 41 in July 1932.

Keep in mind we just saw a 1000 point drop in the market less than a month ago.

While the upper 1 percent was doing very well, those farther down the income scale were not doing as well and many were buying cars, appliances and
other products on credit. Additionally, many Americans had been buying stocks on margin and when the stock market collapsed, they saw their equity
plummet and they stopped buying goods and services; in the first half of 1930, consumers cut their expenditures by ten percent. Companies were afraid
to invest in new capacity or products, and they too stopped spending.

Again were seeing some of the same things now.

In early May 1930 1,028 leading American economists presented President Hoover, Senator Smoot and Congressman Hawley with a letter urging Hoover to
veto the bill if it passed Congress. (The organizer of the letter was Dr. Claire Wilcox, my economics professor in college.)
The economists argued that the tariff increases would raise the cost of living, limit our exports as other countries retaliated, injure U.S. investors
since the high tariffs would make it harder for foreign debtors to repay their loans, and damage our foreign relations. Unfortunately, this is what
happened.

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs represent a cautionary tale. Regardless of whether they were the major cause of the Great Depression or not, they definitely
were a truly terrible idea. In today’s world where Central Banks have been pumping out liquidity and inflating stocks, similar to the case in the
1920s, we must hope that we don’t repeat the mistake of Smoot-Hawley.

The drop in exports was significant. From 1929 to 1933 American exports declined from about $5.2 billion to $1.7 billion, and the impact was
concentrated on agricultural products such as wheat, cotton and tobacco. As a result, many American farmers defaulted on their loans, which in turn
particularly affected small rural banks.

Our production in the US from the 20s through present day

It killed us then and our production was so much more, now its not anywhere close.

Im just saying its a good idea to be cautious considering so many things are similar to the way they were, people really need to research before just
bandwagoning , and understand whats at stake.

US Steel will in demand again, after decades of decimation from imports

Not if other countries retaliate, and if the countries we tariff decide "Fine Fk it" and start selling their products to other countries at a
discount, to undercut the prices THOSE countries are buying from us.

There are two sides to every coin and people really really need to weigh things out.

I really hope this turns out ok, last time we were in a similar economic situation with an inflated stock market, we through out tariffs and ended up
in the Great Depression.

This is a dangerous move and sould not be taken lightly.

Keep in mind that the last time we did this, we actually were a mecca for production and export , and still it destroyed us. We barely produce
anything now.

I hope Trump is right, I hope it goes well, but this should not be taken with a grain of salt.

Well, as of now it's just China's garbage metals they've been selling us, send through other countries, that Obama was too much of a coward to do
anything about. Other countries wanna help male that happen? Fine, they have to deal with the tarrifs now too. Now Mexico threatening retaliatory
tariffs? Now THAT'S hilarious.

I have been reflecting on these tariffs, and have also been trying to digest the potential effects.

I think we are headed for problems regardless, but these tariffs could make things not as terrible as they could become in the long run, although
they may indeed bring issues to the crisis point sooner (though things will in no way be anything close to good without these tariffs,
regardless).

Mr. Peter Schiff, a smarter guy than me by far, said some things about this recently, which are worth a listen:

Mr. Schiff's warning was that Trump's tariffs could turn the US into a 3rd world S***hole.... there abouts.

Trump, and these potential tariffs, would be forcing us to 'go local' in the US, because it will indeed make some foreign commodities and products
unaffordable. That sucks.

But, the sooner we go local, the better quality 3rd world ****hole we have to rebuild a constitutional republic up from ashes again. The later, the
worse quality 3rd world ****hole we have as a starting point. We are going to get some ****hole time for this place, unfortunately, either way.
That is baked in the cake at this point. Our leaders have been derelict of duty for too long to avoid it.

I guess I say : Get it on .... ASAP

Love Mr. Schiff ... love him, and his dad, but we are going down the crapper anyway, and the longer we take before bringing our industry back local
again, the worse the 'shock' and delay of doing so later.

For a lot of things, they need factories, but many things can be made by hand locally, if the competition from abroad flooding the markets stops.
Yes, there will be a delay, and in some places if the delay is a month, there could / will be famine, but what happens the longer we wait for the
so-called 'reset'?

At least we produce food in the continental US, right?

It just gets worse the longer we delay. Bring it on, I say, Honorable Mr. Trump, and friends.

US Steel will in demand again, after decades of decimation from imports

Not if other countries retaliate, and if the countries we tariff decide "Fine Fk it" and start selling their products to other countries at a
discount, to undercut the prices THOSE countries are buying from us.

There are two sides to every coin and people really really need to weigh things out.

originally posted by: BlueAjah
I think this is a smart move. Trump has slowly been doing what he promised - improving trade agreements so that the US does not get the short stick,
and strengthening US industry and employment.

Each one of these moves gives the US additional leverage for making deals with other countries. These deals can be made country by country, instead of
getting us stuck into some pact that was negotiated by others who do not have our best interests as their priority.

US Steel will in demand again, after decades of decimation from imports.

How will it be in demand?

How many steel mills are left in the US?

Any nation needing steel can meet their needs without the US. This was a dumb move by Trump, it will only cause head aches.

originally posted by: BlueAjah
I think this is a smart move. Trump has slowly been doing what he promised - improving trade agreements so that the US does not get the short stick,
and strengthening US industry and employment.

Each one of these moves gives the US additional leverage for making deals with other countries. These deals can be made country by country, instead of
getting us stuck into some pact that was negotiated by others who do not have our best interests as their priority.

US Steel will in demand again, after decades of decimation from imports.

How will it be in demand?

How many steel mills are left in the US?

Any nation needing steel can meet their needs without the US. This was a dumb move by Trump, it will only cause head aches.

Let them make their own or buy it.

No prob.

As an American, I would like to see us buying BS trinkets instead of National Interest commodities.

originally posted by: BlueAjah
I think this is a smart move. Trump has slowly been doing what he promised - improving trade agreements so that the US does not get the short stick,
and strengthening US industry and employment.

Each one of these moves gives the US additional leverage for making deals with other countries. These deals can be made country by country, instead of
getting us stuck into some pact that was negotiated by others who do not have our best interests as their priority.

US Steel will in demand again, after decades of decimation from imports.

How will it be in demand?

How many steel mills are left in the US?

Any nation needing steel can meet their needs without the US. This was a dumb move by Trump, it will only cause head aches.

And on top of it, if were having to produce most of the steel WE use, its going to be a heavy burden , not only in the demand becasue we just dont
produce like we use to, but also cost.

But again, its good medicine I guess, we need to fall hard to get our sh!t together , fact is we NEED to start producing again and being more self
reliant.

But people better be damn ready for prices with things we dont import anymore to skyrocket

The problem is I really really dont think any of his supporters thought this out, they are just cheerleading for winning, without actually stopping to
understand what the fallout is going to be.

Yet doing nothing kills what's left of our most critical metal industries. It gives a near hammer to China and others via sanctions on us much like we
did to Japan when they were dependent on outside metals and oil..

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